Shofar FTP Archive File: imt/tgmwc/judgment/j-crimes-against-humanity

Archive/File: imt/tgmwc/judgment/j-crimes-against-humanity
Last-Modified: 1997/09/03
Judgment
of the
International Military Tribunal
For The
Trial of German Major War Criminals
London
His Majesty's Stationery Office
1951
[Page 64]
THE LAW RELATING TO WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Article 6 of the Charter provides:
"(b) War Crimes: namely, violations of the laws or
customs of war. Such violations shall include, but
not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or
deportation to slave labor or for any other
purpose of civilian population of or in occupied
territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of
war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages,
plunder of public or private property, wanton
destruction of cities, towns, or villages, or
devastation not justified by military necessity;
"(c) Crimes against Humanity: namely, murder,
extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other
inhumane acts committed against any civilian
population, before or during the war; or
persecutions on political, racial, or religious
grounds in execution of or in connection with any
crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal,
whether or not in violation of the domestic law of
the country where perpetrated."
As heretofore stated, the Charter does not define as a
separate crime any conspiracy except the one set out in
Article 6 (a), dealing with Crimes against peace.
The Tribunal is of course bound by the Charter, in the
definition which it gives both of war crimes and crimes
against humanity. With respect to war crimes, however, as
has already been pointed out, the crimes defined by Article
6, Section (b), of the Charter were already recognized as
war crimes under international law. They were covered by
Articles 46, 50, 52, and 56 of the Hague Convention of 1907,
and Articles 2, 3, 4, 46, and 51 of the Geneva Convention of
1929. That violation of these provisions constituted crimes
for which the guilty individuals were punishable is too well
settled to admit of argument.
But it is argued that the Hague Convention does not apply in
this case. because of the "general participation" clause in
Article 2 of the Hague Convention of 1907. That clause
provided:
[Page 65]
"The provisions contained in the regulations
(Rules of Land Warfare) referred to in Article I
as well as in the present Convention do not apply
except between contracting powers, and then only
if all the belligerents are parties to the
Convention."
Several of the belligerents in the recent war were not
parties to this Convention.
In the opinion of the Tribunal it is not necessary to decide
this question. The rules of land warfare expressed in the
Convention undoubtedly represented an advance over existing
international law at the time of their adoption. But the
convention expressly stated that it was an attempt "to
revise the general laws and customs of war", which it thus
recognized to be then existing, but by 1939 these rules laid
down in the Convention were recognized by all civilized
nations, and were regarded as being declaratory of the laws
and customs of war which are referred to in Article 6 (b) of
the Charter.
A further submission was made that Germany was no longer
bound by the rules of land warfare in many of the
territories occupied during the war, because Germany had
completely subjugated those countries and incorporated them
into the German Reich, a fact which gave Germany authority
to deal with the occupied countries as though they were part
of Germany. In the view of the Tribunal it is unnecessary in
this case to decide whether this doctrine of subjugation,
dependent as it is upon military conquest, has any
application where the subjugation is the result of the crime
of aggressive war. The doctrine was never considered to be
applicable so long as there was an army in the field
attempting to restore the occupied countries to their true
owners, and in this case, therefore, the doctrine could not
apply to any territories occupied after 1st September, 1939.
As to the War Crimes committed in Bohemia and Moravia, it is
a sufficient answer that these territories were never added
to the Reich, but a mere protectorate was established over
them.
With regard to crimes against humanity there is no doubt
whatever that political opponents were murdered in Germany
before the war, and that many of them were kept in
concentration camps in circumstances of great horror and
cruelty. The policy of terror was certainly carried out on a
vast scale, and in many cases was organized and systematic.
The policy of persecution, repression, and murder of
civilians in Germany before the war of 1939, who were likely
to be hostile to the Government, was most ruthlessly carried
out. The persecution of Jews during the same period is
established beyond all doubt. To constitute crimes against
humanity, the acts relied on before the outbreak of war must
have been in execution of, or in connection with, any crime
within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal. The Tribunal is of
the opinion that revolting and horrible as many of these
crimes were, it has not been satisfactorily proved that they
were done in execution of, or in connection with, any such
crime. The Tribunal therefore cannot make a general
declaration that the acts before 1939 were crimes against
humanity within the meaning of the Charter, but from the
beginning of the war in 1939 war crimes were committed on a
vast scale, which were also crimes against humanity; and
insofar as the inhumane acts charged in the Indictment. and
committed after the beginning of the war, did not constitute
war crimes, they were all committed in execution of, or in
connection with, the aggressive war, and therefore
constituted crimes against humanity.
The PRESIDENT: I now ask Colonel Volchkov to continue the
reading of the Judgment.
Colonel VOLCHKOV:
[Transcription note: "The Accused Organizations" continues on Page 66]

This site is intended for educational purposes to teach about the Holocaust and
to combat hatred.
Any statements or excerpts found on this site are for educational purposes only.

As part of these educational purposes, Nizkor may
include on this website materials, such as excerpts from the writings of racists and antisemites. Far from approving these writings, Nizkor condemns them and
provides them so that its readers can learn the nature and extent of hate and antisemitic discourse. Nizkor urges the readers of these pages to condemn racist
and hate speech in all of its forms and manifestations.